Illikhoven (Limburg, Netherlands)

Illikhoven (Illekhoven), a village near the Maas River in the Dutch province of Limburg, once belonging partly (north) to the duchy of Gelder, partly (south) to the duchy of Jülich; now belonging partly (north) to the community of Reesteren (1940, 60 inhabitants), partly (south) to the community of Born (1940, 70 inhabitants). A short distance to the west is Vissersweert , a hamlet on the Maas (1940, 19 houses and 90 inhabitants). About 1545 Menno Simons stayed at Illikhoven with Lemke and preached at night in a pasture near Vissersweert, and then went by boat to Roermond. After 1545 Theunis van Hastenrath of Illikhoven also preached and baptized here, and about the same time Adam Pastor seems to have visited the congregation. In 1547 a severe persecution struck the small group. Three of its members, Metken, Jater, and Lijsken, were put to death; other Mennonites saved their lives by flight. Yet the congregation was not destroyed; Illikhoven was the center of a Mennonite congregation "on the Maas," which Diderich Verwer represented at Cologne (see Concept of Cologne) in 1591.